None of the executives appointed to FTSE 100 boards this year were women, according to data exposing the gender divide at the top of British business.
According to analysis from BoardWatch, reported by The Times, only four out of 87 executives, less than 5%, appointed by FTSE 100 companies in the past two years were women.
BoardWatch is tracking the number of all executives at the top of companies following a government commissioned report last year which recommended quotas should be imposed in businesses unless top firms acted to increase the number of women on their boards to at least one in four by 2015.
Former business minister Lord Davies also said firms should be forced to reveal the number of women shortlisted for each vacancy as part of the process to force change - a move being adopted by the Government.
Ceri Goddard, CEO of the Fawcett Society told The Huffington Post UK the lack of women on British boards was "a stark example of workplace inequality between women and men."
"Many years of tapping away at the glass ceiling have left it stubbornly intact, with women's representation at board level stalling at 16.7 %. This is about more than workplace equality, it's about access to power.
"Not only are too few of our top business leaders women, there are currently only five women in the Government Cabinet of 23, while in Parliament men outnumber women four to one.
"In politics, business and public life more generally, decisions which affect us all are being made with too few women in the room."
Ellen Kerr, managing director of Women in Business, told The Huffington Post UK companies were failing to recognise talent at the top.
"I think it's a shame that people don't realise there's a wealth of experience out there. Boards are currently what I call PMS - pale, male and stale."
The Professional Boards Forum's Jane Scott, who compiles the BoardWatch data told The Times the data was a "big concern," adding: "The pipeline in the executive world seems to be broken."
The news comes just a week after research revealed women had to smash through a number of glass ceilings to get the top jobs.
A survey by professional services firm Ernst & Young of 1,000 UK working women between the ages of 18 to 60, revealed that two thirds believe they faced multiple barriers throughout their careers, rather than just a single ceiling on entry to the boardroom.
Earlier this year prime minister David Cameron warned the lack of women in Britain's boardrooms was holding back the country's economic recovery, saying: "The drive for more women in business is not simply about equal opportunity, it's about effectiveness. It's about quality, not just equality."